George Clinton

If George Clinton had a nickel for every hip-hop act that sampled "Atomic Dog," he could corner the market in piggy banks. A studio pioneer, Clinton mixed Screaming Jay Hawkins' outrageousness, Jimi Hendrix's psychedelic blues, James Brown's grooves, Sly Stone's Funk-Rock and Sun Ra's wacky genius into one big, throbbing mass of Electro-Funk. His Parliament/Funkadelic groups hit the 1970s with all the force of the oil embargo and Watergate combined. Clinton was a big name in black markets but his success didn't carry over to white audiences busy grooving to Seals and Crofts -- even solo, "Atomic Dog" only hit 101 on the pop charts! Today, his considerable back catalog is scooped up by legions of converts, eager to hear the man who makes Prince seem as funky as Perry Como.